Unit 2: Expansion & Reform (1800-1860)

Americans felt an overwhelming sense of national unity after the War of 1812 and began to expand their territory and economy. Under federal supervision, the nation began to industrialize and build a strong economy. At the same time, Americans continued to debate the foundation of the national economy. Would it be based on slave labor and agriculture, or rather on wage labor and industrial factories? Americans were divided over the economy, moral values, and slavery. One thing they seemed to be unified in was the need to expand and settle the west.


TEXTBOOK CHAPTERS:
Chapter No. in Book
Chapter Title
Chapter No. in Computer
3
Nationalism and Sectionalism
7
4
Religion and Reform
8
5
Manifest Destiny
9
Graphic organizer of chapter topics:


Notes Charts:






MAJOR CONCEPTS: Nationalism, Sectionalism, Industrialization, Jacksonian Democracy, Suffrage, Abolition, Reform, Transcendentalism, Women's Rights, Expansionism, Manifest Destiny, Mexican American War
  • Early industrialization changes transportation (railroads), communication (telegraphs), and work life (factories), increasing the speed of business.
  • The North embraces a factory-based industrial system, but the South prospers from a slave-based plantation system.
  • High tariffs become a major conflict because they help Northern businesses, but hurt Southern farmers.
  • The invention of the cotton gin increases the need for slaves, but Northerners do not want slavery to spread to the western territories.
  • Andrew Jackson increases political participation of poor white males, increases presidential power, and removes American Indian tribes to reservations.
  • A religious awakening prompts groups to organize social reforms like better schools and prisons, women's rights, and abolition of slavery.
  • Americans feel they have a God-given "manifest destiny" to settle, civilize, and profit from the western lands.


Warning: The following information is subject to change, based on instructional needs. Do not copy objectives or complete quickwrites ahead of time.

Unit 2 Day 1
Topics: Industry, Transportation, Communication, Factory and Plantation Systems, Sectionalism, Tariffs, Cotton gin, Slavery

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Analyze how changes in technology in the early 1800s increased the speed and production of American business.
  • Assess connections between business, technology, transportation, and communication.
  • Analyze how the North and South developed differently during the early 1800s.

Quickwrite: Draw a diagram or write a summary that explains how the Erie Canal helped make New York City the nation's greatest commercial center.

Homework: Read Ch. 3.3 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 2
Topics: Nationalism, American System, Federal Power, Boom & Bust, Monroe Doctrine, Missouri Compromise

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Assess developments in the national economy and federal power during the early 1800s.
  • Analyze how nationalism was reflected in foreign policy and political compromises of the time period.

Quickwrite: Why did Thomas Jefferson change his mind about manufacturing in America? (Hint: See quote on page 101.)

Homework: Read Ch. 3.4 & 3.5 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 3
Topics: Jacksonian Democracy, Indian Removal Act, Nullification Crisis, Bank War, Whig Party

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Assess the changes that Andrew Jackson represented in American politics.
  • Evaluate the crises over nullification and the national bank during Jackson's presidency.

Quickwrite: How is the Missouri Compromise an example of both sectionalism and nationalism?

Homework: Read Ch. 4.1 & 4.2 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 4
Topics: Great Awakening, Transcendentalism, Utopian communities, Reform, Temperence

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Assess how religious revival affected life in the United States in the early 1800s.
  • Analyze the various pushes for social reform, such as public education, prison, and temperence movements.

Quickwrite: Describe two ways democracy was expanded during Jackson's presidency and two ways democracy was still limited.

Homework: Read Ch. 4.3 & 4.4 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 5
Topics: Abolition, Nat Turner's Rebellion, Garrison & Douglass, Women's rights, Suffrage, Declaration of Sentiments

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Evaluate the rise of the abolition movement.
  • Analyze the steps that American women took to advance their rights in the mid-1800s.

Quickwrite: What was the connection between religion and reform during the 1800s?

Homework: Read Ch. 5.1 & 5.2 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 6
Topics: Manifest Destiny, Westward expansion, Texas Annexation, Mexican American War

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Assess the causes of westward migration.
  • Evaluate the principle of "manifest destiny."
  • Analyze how American settlement in Texas led to war with Mexico.

Quickwrite: List four arguments that slave owners used in support of slavery.

Homework: Read Ch. 5.3 (Honors: Complete Reading Guide charts)


Unit 2 Day 7
Topics: Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexican Cession, Gadsden Purchase, Gold Rush

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Analyze the effects of the Mexican American War.
  • Evaluate the justifications for the war.
  • Analyze the effects of the California Gold Rush.

Quickwrite: What three issues led American settlers in Texas to declare independence from Mexico?

Homework: Study for Unit 2 test on chapters 3-5.


Unit 2 Day 8
Topics: Unit 2 test tomorrow!

Learning Objectives:
Students will
  • Catch up and review for Unit 2 test tomorrow on chapters 3-5.

Quickwrite: Create a multiple choice question for the test tomorrow.

Homework: Study for Unit 2 test on chapters 3-5.


Unit 2 Test Day
Homework: Read Ch. 6.1 & 6.2.





Links:
US History Textbook Site
Hudson River School Slideshow
Hudson River School Iconography
Evaluating Andrew Jackson
9/11 Interactive Timeline
Mexican American War